PCI vs CABG: Does Age Inform Choice for Left Main Coronary Artery Disease?
BOSTON — Adding fuel to the controversy of revascularization for left main disease, patients had better survival after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery than percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in an all-comers nationwide registry study. The incidence of all-cause mortality stayed greater up to 7 years after PCI versus CABG (adjusted HR 1.59, 95% CI […]
Ultrasound Guidance No Advantage for PCI Access
BOSTON — Routine ultrasound guidance for accessing the femoral vein for percutaneous coronary procedures didn’t cut down on bleeding and vascular complications, the UNIVERSAL trial showed. The primary combined endpoint of major bleeding and major vascular complications at 30 days showed no advantage to the imaging technique added to fluoroscopy, reported Sanjit S. Jolly, MD, […]
Is TAVR in Small Aortic Annuli Better With Self-Expanding Valves?
BOSTON — Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in patients with small aortic annuli had better hemodynamic results with a self-expandable than a balloon-expandable valve, with suggestion of better clinical outcomes too, in the France-TAVI registry. Mean gradient was significantly lower with self-expanding Medtronic CoreValve Evolut Pro or R devices at the end of the procedure […]
Mitral Valve Repair Devices Go Head-to-Head, and the Top Spot Belongs to…
BOSTON — The Pascal device for edge-to-edge mitral valve repair was as safe and effective as the MitraClip device, the pivotal CLASP IID trial showed. In a pre-specified interim analysis of the first 180 patients enrolled, Pascal was non-inferior for the primary effectiveness endpoint of proportion of patients with mitral regurgitation no worse than 2+ […]
Presumed Clinical Benefits of TAVR Cerebral Protection Remain Unproven
BOSTON — Cerebral embolic protection (CEP) again came up empty in preventing strokes after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) despite safely capturing embolic material dislodged during the procedure, a large randomized trial found. In the 3,000-person PROTECTED TAVR trial, the sentinel dual-filter system produced no significant reduction in periprocedural strokes compared with control cases without […]
Tufts Nurses Rally for Children’s Access to Care as Closure Looms
As the shuttering of 41 pediatric inpatient beds at Tufts Children’s Hospital in Boston draws near, nurses rallied on Tuesday over their concern that the closure will severely limit access to care. Though the Tufts Medicine Health System reasoned in its public announcement of the closure that it would convert 41 pediatric inpatient beds at […]
Dramatic, Durable Hair Growth With Oral JAK Inhibitor
BOSTON — An oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor produced significant, durable hair growth, including scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes in patients with severe alopecia areata, according to long-term data from two randomized trials. Almost 40% of patients achieved a Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score ≤20 (total percentage of hair loss) at 52 weeks with a […]
The Case Number That Will Make the Unsafe Safe, Revealed
In this video, Jeremy Faust, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and MedPage Today‘s editor-in-chief, discusses a new model he has created to answer the question: at what point can we stop masking and still keep the immunocompromised safe? The following is a transcript of his remarks: Hi, this is Jeremy Faust, editor-in-chief […]
Boston Man Suffers Seizures Caused By Tapeworms In His Brain
A Boston man thought he was in good health found out otherwise when he started engaging in strange behavior early one morning. According to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the otherwise healthy man fell out of bed at approximately 4 a.m. and started shaking on the floor. Advertisement Even stranger: […]
Large genetic analysis identifies numerous gene variants linked with differences in food intake
A team of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), and other institutions have identified more than two dozen genetic regions that may affect individuals’ food intake. The investigators hope that the discovery, which is described in Nature Human Behaviour, will point to new treatment strategies to curb the […]